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John McKenna

Date of Birth: 1855

Honours
2 SECOND DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS 1893-94, 1895-96

1 LANCASHIRE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP 1892-93



McKenna, although never actually holding the post of manager, took over the mantle from the founder of the club John Houlding and his duties included many of the tasks of a manager.
'Honest' John was one of the greatest driving forces for Liverpool throughout the early years. An Irishman, Tory, Freemason and friend of John Houlding (founder) - who started off as a grocer's errand boy - he would regularly visit Anfield before the split with Everton, and became an avid supporter of the football played there.

In 1892, 'Liverpool Association' were denied entry into the Football League by the F.A. This forced McKenna to guide Liverpool through the ranks of the Lancashire Association. Needing players and needing to prove a point, he turned to Glasgow and the Irish community for his contacts. On September 1st 1892, the day Liverpool were to play their first game on their new ground, the Liverpool Echo reported that, "The old Anfield ground will be occupied by the newly organized club known as 'Liverpool Association', and claim for it that no better game be witnessed on any other plots in the neighborhood". (Everton playing their first game at Goodison park that same evening against Bolton Wanderers). McKenna could not have had a better start to his new career, beating Rotherham Town 7-1.

Due to his trips north of the border, the first team he fielded, had no Englishmen. They were known as the team of 'Mac's', McBride, McQueen, McVean etc., eight in all. Almost a century later, when Liverpool completed their first double, again no Englishmen were fielded.

At the end of the first season, McKenna, also acting as secretary to the club, had written to the F.A. without anyone's knowledge, and requested election to the Football league. This was on the understanding that at least one of two financially stricken clubs, Accrington Stanley or 'Brutal' Bootle, would be stepping out.

McKenna's vision for the club was now apparent. Their first game saw them dispose of 'Boro 2-0 away. McKenna's struggle to make Liverpool the best in the land, found the club again pushing for promotion at the end of their first season. Due to the old test match system, and no automatic promotion, Liverpool found themselves in a play-off situation with last placed Newton Heath (Manchester United), who were comfortably beaten 2-0. First division status at last.

By the time Liverpool were relegated though, in 1895, McKenna was ruling things with W.E. Barclay, who seems to have acted more as Club Secretary. As Liverpool's first Secretary/Manager, he predicted that the club would only be relegated for one year. Liverpool became renowned for this display of fighting spirit, for years to come.

As McKenna's success flourished, so did the club's. He built a new stand for the fans and was a fierce critic of the maximum wage system. The club could quite easily afford to pay their players well and/or a lucrative bonus scheme. Unfortunately, his players had to seek additional employment or quit the game altogether.

In 1913, the Arsenal Chairman accused Liverpool (and 'Honest John') of match fixing. McKenna immediately demanded an inquiry by the F.A. and was later completely exonerated with deep apologies from the Gunners.

Unfortunately for John, later that year, four players were banned from the game for life, by the F.A. for alleged match fixing with Manchester United. This hurt McKenna deeply.

At the end of the war, the four Liverpool players had their sentences generously lifted by the F.A. as reward for their years of fighting. Given McKenna's earlier distress, three of the four players, Sheldon, Purcell and Miller, did actually play for Liverpool again. Miller even got capped for Scotland and after two more seasons at Anfield, got transferred to, of all clubs, Man Utd.

In 1915, McKenna handed over the chairmanship to W.R. Williams, but remained at the helm. By this time, McKenna was a well respected figure in Football, and quite rightly so.

"Honest" John McKenna had served Liverpool Football Club for over 40 years, he died in March of 1936. Like John Houlding, his friend and business partner before him, his coffin was carried through the city by three Liverpool players and three Everton players, a commemorative plaque to him remains in the foyer in Anfield.

The commemorative scroll and casket presented to him after a record 26 years as Football League President resides in the Club Museum.

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William E. Barclay

Honours
2 SECOND DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS 1893-94, 1895-96

1 LANCASHIRE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP 1892-93



After the defection, Houlding and Barclay were left with a football ground and no team, but together rapidly and successfully created a brand new one - Liverpool Football Club.
Barclay was the actual 'secretary-manager' of Liverpool Football Club during this period and had been involved at Liverpool before John McKenna, who seems to have acted as a 'coach-manager'. The tremendous work achieved by Barclay should not be overlooked, as he was the organisational force that helped create the great 'Team of the Macs' and the early successes of the Club.

A widely respected and well-liked man, Barclay later became a headmaster of the Industrial Schools in Everton Crescent, Liverpool.

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David Ashworth

Other Clubs as Manager : Oldham Athletic, Stockport County, Manchester City, Walsall

Honours
2 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS 1921/2, 22/3
RUNNERS UP Charity Shield - 1922

David Ashworth was a former referee who later moved into a career in football management. He was apparently a very small man, only about five foot according to some accounts, with a carefully manicured, waxed moustache. He became the first manager of Oldham Athletic Football Club in 1906, moving to manage Stockport County in 1914 and staying with them through the First World War.



In 1920 he was appointed manager of Liverpool and in his first season in charge he guided them to their second successive season in 4th place. Two Derby wins over Everton in the autumn had knocked the stuffing out of the Blues' title challenge, but just two wins in their last 10 games meant that Liverpool failed to maintain their own momentum. They finished 8 points behind the Champions Burnley.

The following season, 1921/22, Ashworth lead Liverpool to their third League Championship. The season started badly with a 3-0 defeat at Sunderland, but after that they only lost one league game, away to Middlesbrough, until the middle of March. However, after that the team began to stutter, losing 4-0 at Oldham. Then, after beating Cardiff 5-1, they lost the away game against the same team 2-0. West Brom came to Anfield and won 2-1 leaving Liverpool with a tricky return visit to the Hawthorns to wrap up the title - they won 4-1 and the title went to Anfield.
Ashworth's Championship side was built around a strong defence with the Irish International Elisha Scott in goal and Ephraim Longworth, Tom Lucas and Don McKinlay sharing the full-back duties. McKinlay also played in a solid half-back line with Tom McNab, Tom Bromilow or Walter Wadsworth. Up front Harry Chambers was top scorer with just 19 goals, supported by Dick Forshaw, who scored 17, and winger Polly Hopkin, famous for the rarity of his goal-scoring.

This same team were well on their way to a second successive Championship the following season, when in February 1923 Ashworth left the table-topping side to return to Oldham, then bottom of the league. No-one has ever satisfactorily explained why Ashworth should decide to make such a bizarre move, although he presumably had some emotional attachment with his first club. It remains a mystery to this day. Oldham ended the season relegated, while Liverpool only won one of their last seven games, but still won the Championship by six points.

Ashworth only stayed with Oldham for about a year before moving to Manchester City, but he resigned in 1925 as the club struggled towards relegation. He next tried his hand in management with Walsall in 1926, but he lasted hardly any time there either, as he left in 1927. He also had a spell as a scout with Blackpool just before the War. He died in 1947, aged 79.

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Matt McQueen

Honours
1 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP 1922-23*

Took over as manager near end of season with Liverpool already top of the League.
Matt McQueen had played 150 times for Liverpool after coming to Anfield in 1892 as one of the original 'Team of the Macs'. He was probably the greatest 'all-rounder' the Club has and will, ever know. In his time at Anfield he played in every single position from 1 to 11, with

49 of his appearances being as a very creditable goalkeeper.



On his retirement as a player he became a referee and in 1918 was appointed a Liverpool director. He then stepped into the managerial hot seat when David Ashworth resigned and kept Liverpool on course for the 1922-23 League Championship.

Whilst on a scouting mission to Sheffield McQueen was involved in a road accident and he lost a leg. His health remained poor finally leading to his retirement in February 1928, although he kept strong links with the club. For many years afterwards he could often be seen sitting outside his no 32 Kemlyn Road house resting his artificial leg and welcoming the Liverpool Supporters as they arrived. His house now forms part of the site of the present Centenary Stand car park.

Apart from securing a valuable Championship title for the Club, he was also responsible for signing the legendary Gordon Hodgson for Liverpool - one of the highlights of the inter-war years at Anfield.

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George Patterson



George Patterson's playing career was an undistinguished one spent at Marine FC, where he gained his footballing experience netting seven goals in the 1907-08 season in the Zingari League playing the likes of Brombrough Pool and Halebank Athletic.

He came to Anfield in 1908 and worked first as an assistant to Tom Watson. On Watson's death he became club secretary and then combined this post with the job of manager between 1928 and 1936. His period as manager was undistinguished, despite some fine footballers in an attractive squad - 5th place in the league in 1928-29 being about as good as it got. He eventually resigned as manager because of the strain it was putting on his health although he continued as club secretary and regularly attended matches up to his death in 1955.

Whilst success eluded Patterson, who was lacking the level of experience that a Club like Liverpool deserved, he was a very shrewd dealer in the transfer market, bringing the likes of Matt Busby and Phil Taylor to Anfield.

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George Kay

Other Clubs as Manager : Southampton

Honours
1 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP 1946-47
1 LANCASHIRE SENIOR CUP 1946-47
1 LANCASHIRE COUNTY COMBINATION CHAMPIONSHIP CUP 1946-47
RUNNERS UP FA Cup - 1949-50 (Semi-Finalists - 1946-47)

Other clubs: Player - Bolton Wanderers, Belfast Celtic, West Ham United

As a player George Kay began his career with three appearances for Bolton in 1910/11 before becoming the first Englishman to captain an Irish League club when he skippered Belfast Celtic. He then returned to England in 1919 to become a key part of West Ham United's defence and skippered 'The Hammers' in the famous 'White Horse' FA Cup Final of 1923.



Kay, a deep - even introspective - thinker, joined Liverpool after five years in charge of Southampton and as manager signed the player widely regarded as Liverpool's greatest ever, Billy Liddell. Furthermore he signed a very young Bob Paisley from Bishop Aukland, for which supporters of the club should be eternally grateful. He also stole the legendary Albert Stubbins from Everton who were about to sign the gifted forward.

Kay guided 'The Reds' to a championship in 1946-47, with a unique 'quadruple' achieved with the Liverpool Senior Cup taken in a final against Everton, and two other local cups. Much of his managerial career at Anfield was interrupted by the war and he may have achieved even more if it were not for this debilitating intrusion.
He has been unfairly overlooked by the awesome achievements of Shankly and his protege Paisley, but in fact he was remarkable and able manager and nearly achieved the prize most desired by the Club, the FA Cup, in 1950 in a close game won ultimately by Arsenal.

He brilliantly planned his assault on the first post-war championship by taking the team on a trip to the USA and Canada, where against mediocre opposition, but with tremendous support, he gave his team time to gel and, very significantly feast on unrationed food in copious quantities. His team, fit, healthy and buoyed by ten wins in ten games managed to stand the strain of a season that only ended in July after a harsh winter delayed fixtures for weeks on end.

Another far from healthy man, Kay died a premature death in 1965. His death prompted Billy Liddell to say: "If ever a man gave his life for a club, George Kay did so for Liverpool."

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Don Welsh

Ill health had forced George Kay to retire as Liverpool's manager early on in the year and so pave the way for Don Welsh to replace him.

This was not the first time the former Charlton and England inside left had served the club. He guested for the Reds during the war in the 1939/40 season. Although a brief spell, he had been accepted as a Liverpool player just the same.

When Welsh joined from Charlton, he had a big problem. The defence was solid but the attack was ageing. He splashed out - spending more than 50,000 pounds on the likes of Bimpson and A'Court - but could not stop the inevitable slide towards Division Two.

Welsh's Record

Div 1 1951-52 43 points 11th place 1952-53 36 points 17th place 1953-54 28 points 22nd place

Div 2 1954-55 42 points 11th place 1955-56 48 points 3rd place



In 1954 Don Welsh became the first manager to put Liverpool through relegation for over 50 years. Unfortunately, that day also saw Everton promoted back to Div 1. He had almost accomplished that feat the season before finishing 17th, and only a scrappy win over Chelsea on the last day of the season kept Liverpool up. Liverpool would stay in Div 2 for eight more seasons.

On Christmas Day 1955, Welsh signed Charlton pair Frank Lock and Jonny Evans. As there were no newspapers over the Christmas period, the first the fans knew anything was when the team list was announced over the tannoy on match day.

Liverpool came near to going back up again in 1955-56, but Welsh was dismissed before he could have another go at getting promotion. It was becoming obvious that Liverpool were going nowhere. The following year, after accepting his part of the blame, Welsh was sacked as Liverpool manager. The only Liverpool manager to ever be sacked, he died in 1990, aged 78

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Phil Taylor

Birthplace: Bristol

Honours
1 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP 1946-47 (as player)

1st team games: 345

1st team goals: 34

International caps: 3 (England)

Other clubs: Bristol Rovers



The ever adaptable Phil Taylor has an unfortunate place in the Anfield history books. As well as being Bill Shankly's predecessor - and thus very much in the background - Taylor is the only Liverpool boss never to manage the team in the top division.

Taylor had signed for Liverpool for £5,000 from Bristol Rovers in March 1936, and later took over the captaincy of the team under Don Welsh. He was a cultured, intelligent and charming man, well liked and respected by his team mates and the fans. His football was thoughtful and creative and he seemed the ideal choice to take charge of the team after the sacking of Don Welsh.

He immediately entered the transfer market and brought in Alan A'Court, Tommy Younger and Ronnie Moran - who became an inspirational captain and started his phenomenal 50 year service to the club - but his teams never achieved the consistency that would enable their promotion back to the top flight. After a rocky start to the 1959-60 season, Taylor resigned in November admitting that "the strain of trying to win promotion has proved too much."

After a superb 23 years at the club a sorrowful Phil Taylor spoke to the Liverpool Daily Post about his decision: "No matter how great has been the disappointment of the Directors at our failure to win our way back to the first division, it has not been greater then mine. I made it my goal. I set my heart on it and strove for it with all the energy I could muster. Such striving has not been enough and now the time has come to hand over to someone else to see if they can do better."

Likeable, honest and charming, Phil Taylor can at least have the satisfaction of knowing that his successor was no less than Bill Shankly, and he DID do better!

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Bill Shankly

Date of Birth: 2.9.13

Birthplace: Glenbuck, Ayrshire

Honours
3 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS 1963-64, 1965-66, 1972-73
2 FA CUPS 1964-65, 1973-74
1 UEFA CUP 1972-73
1 SECOND DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP 1961-62.
3 CHARITY SHIELDS 1964 (shared), 1965 (shared), 1966
RUNNERS UP League Championship - 1968-69, 1973-74 FA Cup- 1970-71 European Cup Winners Cup - 1965-66 Charity Shield - 1971



It's a sobering thought. That a man of such humble origins can become a personality of such overpowering influence in the minds of millions of others. Such power, in misguided hands, can lead to unpalatable scenarios, and the twentieth century has witnessed such tragedy far too often. We must be thankful that Bill Shankly possessed neither the political nous, nor the latent evil of a Hitler or a Stalin.
Born into a family of ten in the Ayrshire mining village of Glenbuck, where conditions were harsh, Shankly was however certainly subjected to the workings of grass roots politics. Keir Hardie, one of the founding members of the Labour party, was chipped from the same Ayrshire coal seams, but for Bill, whilst never losing sight of his humanitarian socialism, football not politics was to be the life's devotion.

Like 49 of his fellow villagers straddling the latter part of the 19th and the early years of the 20th century, Shankly became a professional footballer. Football in Glenbuck was the elixir of life, a blessed relief from the toil of the mineshaft. In 1932 he signed forms with Carlisle United and, within a year, had moved onwards and upwards to Deepdale, home of Preston North End. A distinguished playing career at wing-half that brought 7 caps for Scotland was cruelly interrupted by war in 1939. When the 1946-47 season kick-started organised professional football again in England, Shankly was 33 and rapidly coming to the end of his playing days. He decided quite simply that he would become the greatest football manager of all time.

However, by the time the chairman of Liverpool, T.V. Williams appointed Shankly manager of the club in December 1959, Bill had been a manager for over a decade with precious little in the way of success. He had started his managerial career at the club which had given him his chance in professional football 17 years earlier, Carlisle United. A roller coaster trip of northern clubs took him to subsequent spells at the helms of Grimsby, Workington and finally Huddersfield, where he granted a debut to an upcoming 16 year old called Dennis Law. Disappointingly, Shankly appeared prone to falling foul of the boardroom at each of these clubs as he never felt they gave the same commitment to team affairs as he did. He had walked out on Carlisle, and Grimsby citing a lack of financial commitment on the part of the directors and often felt exasperated by people who simply didn't share his passion for the game. It was Shankly's own commitment and enthusiasm that had first intrigued T.V. Williams years earlier when Bill had been interviewed for the vacant Liverpool job in 1951. Back then, it was felt he wasn't a big enough name for the club, and somewhat lacking in experience, but this time Williams knew instinctively that Shankly and Liverpool were right for each other.

It's hard to understate the ordinariness of Liverpool's position in 1959. Languishing in the old second division, with a crumbling stadium, poor training facilities and a large unwieldy playing staff, the challenge facing Shankly was enormous. He dispensed with the services of 24 members of the playing staff. Liverpool's, and his, good fortune, was that in Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, and Reuben Bennett, the club had an experienced and resourceful backroom staff. He wasn't about to dispense with them. The addition of Shankly was the catalyst they needed to grow and blossom into their natural roles at the club. Slowly at first, and then with a gathering pace, Shankly and his backroom team turned Liverpool around. The legendary 'Boot-Room' was born. The Anfield crowd sensed the change. Gates regularly topped 40,000 and promotion was quickly gained back to the first division. Shankly had rebuilt the club around two key players he brought in, both Scotsmen - Ron Yeats and Ian St John. The Reds romped away with the Second Division title in 1961-62, finishing 8 points clear of their nearest rivals and amassing a stunning - in days of two points for a win - 62 points and scoring 99 goals in the process.

The supremacy of Everton in the city of Liverpool was the first target for Shankly now that he had got the club back into the top flight and in season 63-64, Everton handed over the league championship trophy to their neighbours as Liverpool clinched their 6th title. Battle was joined, and between them, Liverpool and Everton did as much the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers to put Liverpool on the world map in those fab years of the mid 1960s.

The training ground at Melwood, in a terrible state in 1959, was transformed into a top class training facility. Shankly introduced the five-a-side games that so defined his football thinking. Pass and move, keep it simple, a creed taken from the daily matches played by the miners of Glenbuck all those years ago. He introduced a new routine whereby the players would meet and change for training at Anfield and then board the team bus for the short trip to Melwood. After training, they would all bus back to Anfield together to shower and change and perhaps get a bite to eat. This way Shankly ensured all his players had warmed down correctly and he would keep his players free from injury. Indeed, in the 1965-66 season, Liverpool finished as champions using just 14 players and two of those only played a handful of games.

The first F.A. Cup win in 1965 was followed by magical European exploits across the continent as Liverpool established a passing style that became the envy of the watching football world. Amidst all this, stood Shankly, orchestrating events at Anfield, at one with the fans. He was perfectly in tune with the Kopites, knowing and understanding how they felt about football and the pride a successful team gave them. And always, he would remain in touch with his working class roots. His would tell anyone who cared to listen that his lads played to a socialist ethic. If a player was having a poor game Shankly would expect a team mate to cover for him and bail him out like you would do for a neighbour or a colleague down the mine. All for the greater good of the team. The fans on the Kop understood the simple philosophy.

The decline of the great 60s team saw the birth of Shankly's second great Liverpool side. Out went Hunt, St.John, Yeats and Lawrence, and in came Keegan, Heighway, Lloyd and Clemence. Success followed success. A first European trophy in 1973 ( the UEFA cup ) was won in tandem with the club's 8th league title. In 1974, the F.A. Cup came back to Anfield after a breathtaking Wembley performance against a hapless Newcastle United. Then came the shock resignation, on a July day in that summer of '74. Shankly was 60, and wanted to spend time with his wife Ness and their family. That he left the club in such capable hands speaks volumes for the man. The bootroom staff, now joined by ex-players Ronnie Moran and Roy Evans, got behind new manager Bob Paisley and the club went on to even greater glories in the years that followed.

There is no doubt that Paisley's era as manager was more fruitful than Shankly's in terms of trophies won. Also, it seems fair to speculate that much of what Shankly achieved would not have been possible without Bob Paisley's calm influence and knowledge of the game. But it is equally likely that without the driving force and sheer charisma of Shankly, Liverpool's spell in the doldrums in the 1950s would have reached long into the 60s and perhaps even further and Bob Paisley may never have become manager at all. That the club contrived to bring them together at all in those dark post war days, the fans will be forever grateful.

The city of Liverpool was shocked when Bill Shankly died unexpectedly in September 1981 after suffering a heart attack. His good friend Sir Matt Busby was so upset when he heard the news that he couldn't even answer the telephone that morning. In the years following his resignation, to the disbelief of the fans, relations between him and the club he so loved had become somewhat strained. There was no such problem on the terraces. In the first game at Anfield following his funeral, a huge banner was unfurled on the Kop which read 'Shankly Lives Forever'. Perhaps the differences between Keir Hardie and Bill Shankly were only slight after all. Both had achieved immortality through their brand of socialism. One through the ballot box, the other through the turnstile.

His spirit lives on at Anfield to this day, where a statue to the great man stands before his beloved Kop and the Shankly Gates bear the immortal words "You'll never walk alone". Certainly Shankly never walked alone and he is revered by all Liverpool supporters to this day.

This was no better demonstrated than on 18th December 1999 when the 40th anniversary of Shankly's arrival at Anfield was celebrated in a manner that took the breath away. Nearly the whole of the 1965 and 1974 F A Cup winning teams reassembled to view the exhibition commemorating Shankly and then paraded onto the pitch, where they stood in silence as two bagpipers played "Amazing Grace".

12,000 voices on the Kop gently sang the word 'Shankly' to the tune as they held up a mosaic bearing his face and the Saltire. The version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" that followed rivaled any previously heard before. His spirit and his legend is clearly set to live on well into the new Millennium.